Bridging The Gap
by hsmcrazy123
Summary: Troy and Gabriella's marriage is fast approaching a melt down. Will a trip to England save their marriage? Or will the trip only make them grow further and further apart?
1. Chapter 1

"Now Mr and Mrs Bolton..." Doctor Anderson began from behind his desk.

"It's Gabriella." The dark haired beauty cut in causing the chestnut  
haired male sat beside her to glare in her direction.

The counsellor smiled wryly and continued. "What seems to be the  
problem between the two of you?"

"It's all his fault." Gabriella informed, spitting out the word 'his'.

"My fault? It's all your fault! You're the one who has these girly  
mood swings!"

"Well I'm sorry for being a girl! Maybe you should come out of the  
closet if you can't cope with me being a girl."

"Are you calling me gay? That's just childish, Gabriella. You know I'm  
definitely not gay, I'm attracted to girls." Troy defended.

"All girls apart from me! Is that it? Are you cheating on me with some  
tall leggy blonde?" Gabriella challenged. The pair had now turned  
towards each other as their argument escalated.

"What? No? Why would you think that? Do you really think that low of  
me? You're so paranoid, geez."

"Well maybe I wouldn't be so paranoid if you treated me like your wife!"

"What's that supposed to mean?" Troy asked.

"When was the last time you showed affection towards me? When was the  
last time you hugged me, kissed me or held my hand, actually when was  
the last time you physically touched any single part of me?"

"You won't let me come near you! What am I supposed to do?" Troy  
quizzed, his wife now starting to get on his last nerve.

"Okay, I've heard all I need to hear. Arguing is going to get you no  
where." Dr. Anderson said, getting fed of the pair's bickering.

"Try telling her that."

"Oh shut up, Troy."

"It's obvious that you two can't get along but according to your notes  
you have a five year old daughter. Am I correct?"

Troy and Gabriella nodded. "Layla." Troy informed.

"She's the only good thing I got out of this marriage." Gabriella  
responded.

"Well how do you think this is affecting Layla?" Dr Anderson asked

"Its not, she hasn't noticed anything." Troy answered.

"Why do you think that?"

"She's never mentioned anything."Troy said.

"Just because she hasn't mentioned it doesn't mean it's not affecting  
her. She's old enough to sense that something isn't right."

This made Troy and Gabriella stop and think about how their arguing  
could possibly be affecting their beloved daughter. Did it upset her?  
They hoped not.

"If there's one reason that you should fix this marriage it's because  
of your daughter. And that's why I'm arranging for the two of you to  
go away somewhere together and learn to get along."

"I'm not going anywhere with her. It'll be torture." Troy retorted  
folding his arms over his chest.

"Right back at you." Gabriella spat back.

"I can't force you to go but I would advise you to for your daughters  
well being." Dr Anderson informed.

"Fine I'll go."Troy decided,sighing.

"Gabriella?" Dr Anderson questioned, his gaze turning to Gabriella.

"Fine."Gabriella answered.

"Great so I will arrange for you to go to the British countryside for  
two weeks starting next week. I hear the scenery is beautiful."

"But it's Christmas during those two weeks, I'm not spending Christmas  
away from our daughter." Gabriella said, there was no way that she was  
leaving Layla back home on Christmas day, Layla loved spending  
Christmas with her parents.

"Well I'll arrange for Layla to go too along with someone to look  
after her while you two are spending time alone together, maybe your  
parents." The pair nodded. "Okay then that's it for today, I'll send  
you the details and itinerary soon and I hope your marriage can be fixed  
in time for Christmas." The counsellor concluded while standing up.  
Troy and Gabriella stood up simultaneously and shook the counsellors  
hand thanking him for his help and left the building. The space  
between the couple could have been filled with an ocean as they walked  
to their car. They both grumpily clambered into Troy's Audi before he  
started the engine and started driving towards their house.

"Can we stop by the grocery store? I need to pick up a few things." Gabriella asked as they approached Wall-mart.

Troy responded by turning on his left indicator as they halted at the traffic lights just before the entrance to the store. "Thanks." Gabriella said quietly.

"You're welcome." Troy returned politely. When the traffic light changed to green, Troy drove the car into the Wall-mart parking lot and parked in the first space he saw.

Gabriella climbed out of the car, placing her purse over her shoulder before walking towards the entrance, grabbing a basket on the way in. Troy followed behind with his hands shoved in his Jean pockets. He sped his pace up and took the basket from his wife's hand. "What are you doing?" She asked coming to a halt.

"Carrying the basket for you. You complained that I don't act like a husband, well now I am."

"But I don't need you to carry it. I'm fine with carrying it by my self." Gabriella said taking the basket back into her own hand.

"Can't I do anything right, I'm trying to do something nice for you!" Troy said getting annoyed.

"But you'll take the basket and then you'll get bored and wonder off to the entertainment section with the basket leaving me stood with a pile of food in my arms looking like an idiot!" Gabriella exclaimed making the other customers look at them oddly.

"No I won't!" Troy defended. "When have I ever done that?"

"You do it every time I bring you here!"

"Fine, I won't carry your basket. When it gets too heavy, don't ask me to carry it for you!" Troy huffed as he began to walk down the aisle. Gabriella paused, calming her self before trailing behind him filling the basket as she walked.

Forty minuted later the pair arrived home, relieved to be able to see their daughter who would probably lighten their mood. Troy opened the door with his free hand, his other hand was filled with grocery bags, walking through it with Gabriella walking behind carrying a few bags herself. As they were dropping the bags onto the counters in the kitchen the sound of footsteps running was heard and a small figure with long dark curls and bright blue eyes entered the room.

"Mommy! Daddy! You're home!"

"Hey Layla. " Troy cooed pulling his daughter into a hug before Gabriella gave the little girl a hug too.

"Where have you been?" Layla asked curiously.

"Erm.."Troy said stuck for ideas.

"We went to Aunt Taylor's and Uncle Chad's and then we went to Wall-mart. We bought you some pink doughnuts!" Gabriella filled in, lying about going to Chad's and Taylor's.

"Really!? I love doughnuts, especially pink ones!" Layla squealed, her aqua coloured eyes glittering and her wide crooked smile causing her high cheek bones to be even more defined. Layla had inherited her dad's eyes and smile and her Mom's hair, nose and cheekbones.

At that moment Jack and Lucille Bolton walked into the kitchen. "Oh we thought we heard you come in." Lucille said.

"Hey Mom, Hey Dad." Troy said, moving forward to hug his parents.

"Hey." Gabriella replied, beginning to unpack the groceries.

"Hey son. Hey Gabriella. How did it go?"Jack asked, referring to their counselling. Troy and Gabriella's parents were the ones who arranged for the counselling as they too were fed up of the son's and daughters bickering.

Gabriella looked down at their daughter who was arranging the magnetic letters on the refrigerator to spell her name. "We'll talk about it later."

Jack and Lucille nodded.

"Why don't we have some strawberry milkshake and a doughnut while we snuggle up on the couch to watch a movie before I tuck you into bed?" Troy offered, reaching his hand down and brushing some curls away from Layla's pretty face.

She looked away from the magnets and up at her Daddy."Finding Nemo?" Layla asked hopefully.

Troy nodded causing his daughter to squeal and run into the living room, plucking the DVD from the cabinet under the TV. Troy followed and put the DVD into the player before carrying Layla over to the large L-shaped couch and placing her on his lap as he sat down. As the movie began to play, Layla snuggled up to her dad as he placed her favourite blanket over her small form. Whenever Layla watched a film with her parents it was always separately, her parents never both sat down with her together. At one time they had done, when Layla was younger the three of them would sit down to watch a movie every Friday night. But all that has changed now, if three of them ever did sit down together, Troy and Gabriella would either not talk to each other or if they did speak to each other they would end up arguing. Layla wished that everything would go back to normal. She wanted her parents to be in love again and most of all be happy.

Back in the kitchen Troy's parents were helping Gabriella to unpack the groceries.

"So how did it go?" Lucille asked as she placed the carton of orange juice into the refrigerator.

"Dr Anderson is sending us to England for two weeks to learn to get along." Gabriella sighed.

"Are you going to go?"Jack asked.

"Yeah, he said we should do for Layla's benefit. We were wondering if you two and my Mom would come too? We're taking Layla because we don't want to be away from her over Christmas but we need someone to look after her while we have to 'bond' alone." Gabriella said mimicking quotation marks on the word bond.

"Sure. We were planning on spending Christmas with you anyway. And I've always wanted to try a British roast dinner." Lucille replied, smiling.

Gabriella smiled and thanked them before ringing her Mom and asking her the same thing. She agreed too so now all they needed was for Dr Anderson to send them the details and then they were good to go. Gabriella stood at the doorway to the living room and watched as Troy soothingly stroked Layla's hair as they laughed at the fishes on screen. She only hoped that by the end of this trip, Troy would be that affectionate with her too.


	2. Chapter 2

**Hey, thanks for reading the last chapter and those nine people who reviewed, thanks even more. If you added this story and/or me to your author/story alerts but didn't review, please do! I would love to hear your feedback. I hope you enjoy this one and don't forget to review :) **

***P.S I DON'T KNOW WHY THE LAST PART WAS/IS ALL ONE PARAGRAPGH! WHEN I EDIT/PREVIEW THE CHAPTER IT'S FINE AND MY ACTUALY WORD DOCUMENT IS NORMAL, FANFICTION HAS MESSED IT UP! SORRY!***

"Why are we going to England, Mommy?" Layla Bolton asked as she peered out of the aeroplane window to see miles after miles of white fluffy clouds.

"Erm..because it's a nice place and we're going for a holiday! We're stopping in a cute cottage with a huge garden where you can make loads of snowmen if it snows and it has a bigger kitchen than ours back home so we could bake some Christmas cookies." Gabriella replied, missing out the real reason for their trip.

"Wow, really!? Daddy will you make snow angels with me?" Layla asked excitedly poking her slumbering fathers arm. Layla was sat between her parents with Gabriella at the window and Troy nearest the aisle.

Troy stirred and looked around confused before taking in the sight of his smiling daughter. "Did you say something, Princess?" He asked.

Layla nodded. "I asked if you would make snow angels with me in the garden at the cottage." She repeated with a pout.

"Of course I will." Troy agreed.

"Yay! You too Mommy?" Layla asked, looking at Gabriella hopefully.

"Sure."

"This is going to be the best Christmas ever!" Layla announced while clapping her hands excitedly before she went back to colouring in her picture.

Troy and Gabriella nodded hoping that this Christmas would be a good one and not end in tears like last year had.

Seven long and tiring hours later the six jet lagged people arrived at the place they would be staying in for the next two weeks. The cottage was surrounded by acres of grass iced with frost covering the tall hills which seemingly appeared to be all over this part of England. The building was painted white with a grey tiled room and two chimneys. Behind the cottage there was a huge garden complete with a slide, swing, trampoline and a table and chairs although the family doubted whether they would all get much use due to the freezing December temperatures. The air around them was cool and crisp, sending a chill down their spines as they exited the car.

"Oh my, isn't it beautiful?" Maria Montez gushed with her gloved hands clasped together in glee.

"It sure is." Troy agreed while lifting a sleeping Layla from the car.

"The scenery is just wonderful, so much better than in pictures." Lucille chimed in as Gabriella unlocked the door to the cottage using the key she had been given. The others followed behind curious to see the indoors. The inside of the cottage was just as beautiful as the outside. The rooms were decorated in a mix of modern and traditional style with red and green theme, perfect for Christmas. The spacious and modern farm-house style kitchen was fitted with white wooden cabinets and cupboards along with a long wooden dining table in the middle of the grey slate floor. The cottage had two good sized living rooms, a double bedroom with an en suite bathroom and two twin rooms.

Troy carefully placed Layla down on the sofa in one of the living rooms and retrieved her blanket from her backpack before resting it atop of her body.

Later that night the group were discussing who should get which room. This created a problem between Troy and Gabriella. Troy's parents were in the double room after Troy and Gabriella refused to sleep in the same bed, Maria and Layla were going to share one of the twin bedrooms leaving the other for Troy and Gabriella.

"I'm not sharing a room with her.." Troy exclaimed.

"Well I don't want to share a room with you either." Gabriella spat back, leaning back on the sofa, tucking her knees towards her chest and wrapping her arms securely around them.

"Will you two stop acting like your two years old?" Jack complained

"I'm not, I'm just saying that I don't want to sleep in the same room as her. Even if it is in separate beds, I would rather not cope with her snoring thank you very much."

"My snoring? What about yours!? You sound like you got something constantly stuck up your nose!" Gabriella retorted.

"Whatever. I'm not stopping in the same room as her. End of." Troy replied, crossing his arms over his chest and staring at the blank TV screen.

"Fine then. You can sleep on the sofa." Gabriella said matter of factly.

"Why me? Why can't you sleep on the sofa? I have to at home!" Troy responded shooting daggers at his wife with his eyes.

"Because I'm the woman!" Gabriella returned.

"Seriously, you two, cut it out, You're going to wake Layla and she won't like waking up to her parents arguing, especially over silly little things like sleeping arrangements." Lucille said calmly, trying to tame the pair.

"Gabriella, you can sleep in my room and Layla can share with Troy. End of. No more arguing." Maria commanded just as Layla's bright blue eyes fluttered open and looked around the room in confusion, beginning to whimper when she didn't recognise her surroundings..

"It's okay, Layla. Mommy's here." Gabriella said softly, going over to where Layla lay on the other couch and sat next to her, stroking her hair.

The little girl stopped whimpering and cuddled into her Mom's arm. "Where are we?"

"We're in the cottage, look how pretty it is and there's a trampoline, slide and swing in the garden for you."

Layla smiled at the thought.

"Shall we go out for Dinner? I saw a lovely...pub, I think it was called, down the road as we passed it in the car." Jack suggested standing up.

The adults nodded in agreement. For the next half an hour they all went to their respective bedroom to change their clothes and freshen up after the long day of travelling they had endured. Troy came down dressed in a blue check shirt, skinny jeans and white converse with his hair in his usual bed-head look.

Gabriella came down five minutes later wearing dark blue skinny jeans, a white floaty top with matching patent ballet flats and a bronze leather jacket. Her hair had been straightened slightly but it still had some wave and her make-up was applied lightly. As the reached the bottom of the stairs she caught Troy's gaze. Troy smiled wryly at her before Layla bounded down the stairs dressed in a denim skirt, pastel colour rainbow striped tights, a white long sleeve Tinkerbell top with a pale pink and white striped cardigan on top combined chestnut coloured ugg boots. Her long dark curls were left natural with a pale pink headband to keep her bangs away from her face.

"Well aren't you a pretty girl?" Troy wooed, smiling at his daughter.

Layla nodded and hugged Troy's legs. "You look pretty too, Daddy."

Troy and Gabriella laughed. "Thanks Princess, nice to know that I look pretty although I would prefer handsome." Troy said while placing dressing Layla in her hat, scarf, gloves and coat. Gabriella wrapped a scarf around her own neck and zipped up her lather jacket while Troy pulled on his thick winter coat.

Fifteen minutes later the group of six were all sat around a large table in the country pub, pondering over the menus trying to decide what they would like to order. Troy, Layla and Gabriella were sat on one side of the table with Layla in the middle while Troy's parents and Maria sat on the other side. The pub was decorated with fairy lights and a huge Christmas tree stood over in one corner.

Once they had all ordered their meals they sat back in their chairs as conversation flowed freely across the table. Around five minutes later Christmas Carols began to play on a guitar as a man, obviously the nights entertainment, began to sing popular festive songs. The man had similar hair to Troy's but a lighter colour and his eyes were also of a similar shade of bright blue. All in all he looked almost identical to Troy. As he began singing Mariah Carey's 'All I want For Christmas Is You' he looked over in Gabriella's direction and winked at her. Gabriella thought he was gorgeous. Maybe not as gorgeous as Troy, but she wouldn't tell him that. She smiled widely at him which did not go un-noticed by her husband.

He stopped mid conversation, his jaw locking in annoyance. The mystery singer looked directly at Gabriella as he sung 'just want you for my own, More than you could ever know' causing Gabriella to blush and giggle. Troy was fuming. 'I just want you for my own'? Sure it was only a song but Gabriella was his. She was his wife even if they were not on the best of terms. Troy's thoughts were interrupted by his mom's voice asking about his job. Troy was a fireman.

"How's work, honey?" Lucille asked, taking a sip of her red wine.

"Busy. A lot of fires because of people having too many Christmas lights." Troy replied. "But I'm glad I don't have to work over Christmas."

"I hope you're being safe when you go out on a job." His Mom warned. "We wouldn't want Gabriella to be a twenty seven year old widow and Layla without her Daddy, would we?"

"I know, Mom. I don't plan on leaving them, even if Gabriella does get on my last nerve." Troy sighed.

Lucille smiled at her son just as their food arrived. Gabriella hadn't noticed the waiter bringing their food and was still transfixed by the singers dreamy voice. Troy nudged her shoulder finally gaining her attention. "Your dinner's here." He informed, digging into his own meal.

"Oh, I didn't notice." Gabriella said picking up her cutlery.

"Well you would have if you hadn't of been drooling over the fourth member of the Jonas Brothers." Troy snapped. Gabriella's eyebrows arched.

"There's only three Jonas Brothers for your information. And I wasn't drooling, I was just enjoying the show." Gabriella shot back.

"I know there's only three. I'm not an idiot."

"Then why did you say the fourth member? It wasn't a funny comment."

"I wasn't trying to be funny I was just pointing out that you were acting as though he was the fourth member of the Jonas Brothers."

"Well I don't even like the Jonas Brothers so why would I act like he was a member?"

"Yes you do! You have all their CD's and don't think I haven't seen that life-size Joe stand up poster you have in your closet!" Troy remarked.

"I got that years ago! I'm just keeping it in case Layla wants it!" Gabriella said angrily.

"Will you two stop arguing! I can't believe your arguing over something as petty as the Jonas Brothers!" Maria said in a harsh whisper.

"We're not arguing over the Jonas Brothers, I'm annoyed because Gabriella is flirting with some other guy! Did you forget that you are married?"

"Of course I haven't! Our marriage is the reason I came here! And what's wrong with a little bit of harmless flirting? It's not as though I'm sleeping with the guy!" Gabriella argued.

"You may as well be." Troy said as he began eating his dinner again.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Gabriella questioned.

"You look at him with more love than you do with me!" Troy returned.

"Are you kidding me? I don't know him! I don't love him you idiot! You know I love you!"

"You've got a funny way of showing it!"Troy said.

"So have you! That is _if _you do love me, of course."

"You know what?, right now I'm starting to question that myself!" Troy exclaimed

Gabriella's eyes widened in shock at his words and her expression fell at the thought of him not loving her. That hit Gabriella hard. Love was one of the two things that was keeping their relationship going. The other being their daughter. What he had just said had torn her heart in two. Gabriella stood sharply, grabbing her purse. "Fine then. I'll go." She said softly, her tone of voice still hurt.

"Gabriella, wait.." Troy said regretting the words that had just left his mouth.

"No, Troy. I'm not going to sit here with you and play happy families when we're not one. I'm going back to the cottage." Gabriella interrupted, slipping her arms into her coat trying to keep her tears at bay.

"Mommy! Don't go!" Layla cried.

"I'm just going back to the cottage, Sweetie. You stay here and finish your dinner. Daddy and your grandparents will look after you." Gabriella said softly, placing a soft kiss on her daughters forehead.

"But you haven't finished your dinner." Troy said, trying to make her stay.

"I'm not hungry any more." And with that, she stormed out of the pub and made her way back down the road to the cottage.

"Troy, how could you say that to your wife?" Jack fumed.

"I don't know Dad. I didn't mean it. I'm sorry."

"We're not the one's you should be apologising to. It's your wife who is probably crying her eyes out over you."

Troy closed his eyes in regret and stood up. "I'm gonna go and make up with Mommy, okay, Princess? Your Grandma's and Grandad will bring you back later." Troy said gently to Layla who nodded, biting her lip, her blue eyes wide.

Troy sighed. The counsellor was right, this was affecting Layla. He bent down in front of Layla and looked her in the eye. "Me and Mommy are going to be okay. You have nothing to worry about, darling." Troy soothed, wiping away her fresh tears. Layla wrapped her arms around his neck in a hug. Troy rubbed her small back before pulling back and smiling softly at her. "I'll see you later." He kissed her cheek before standing and going out of the pub doors after his wife. Hoping that they could get over this hurdle in the race track that was their life together.

**Like it? Love it? Hate it as much as the thought of Zac with another girl other than Vanessa? Tell me! Please review and thanks if you do. I was supposed to do some art tonight seeing as I have been unable to all week because of English coursework, but I did this chapter anyway. I don't want this story to get left behind like my yt series do. The next chapter will be out whenever I get a break from doing my art work and English coursework.**


	3. Chapter 3

**Hey sorry about the dodgy long paragraph in the last chapter, I think fanfiction made it like that because I changed the font to Arial once I started to write the parts which got mashed together. I didn't know you couldn't have any font you wanted. Sorry.**

**Anyway, thanks for reviewing :) I got 16 which I am quite happy about to be honest but I got a lot more story adds than reviews. So those who don't review, please do!**

**Enjoy :)**

Just as Troy was sprinting towards the cottage he spotted Gabriella entering through the front door. He sped up his pace and arrived at the door just as she was about to close it.

"Gabriella, wait.." He said breathlessly, the bitterly cold air making his breath turn white as it escaped his mouth.

"Go away, Troy." Gabriella said sternly trying to shut the door but her skinny arms were no match for Troy's fireman muscles.

"Let me in. Gabriella, I _need _to talk to you." Troy pleaded.

"Why? So you can humiliate me even more than you already did?" She said bitterly.

"No! I didn't mean to say that! It was a mistake!"He said frantically. "You know that I love you! I've been in love with you ever since I met you in Colorado back when we were seventeen." Troy said, his voice softening as he looked her in the eye for the first time in six months..

Gabriella could see he was shivering and his lips were already turning blue so she let him in. "Then why did you say that you question whether you love me or not?" She asked as she closed the door behind him.

"I swear I didn't mean it! I was just so caught up in the moment of being annoyed with you that it slipped out!" Troy said desperately.

She sighed. "Well maybe I'm fed up of you being annoyed with me all the time." She said remorsefully.

"You get annoyed with me too!" Troy argued. "You can't blame it all on me!"

"I'm not trying to, I'm just saying maybe." She began, still gathering her thoughts considering what she was about to do. "this is it for us. Maybe we just weren't meant to be."

He moved closer towards her while shaking his head "Brie, come on, you can't be serious, I love you." He said, trying to take her hands into his but she pulled away.

"I'm being deadly serious. I love you too but that's not enough. We can't ever get along and I can't cope with it any more!" She said backing up, her voice wavering.

"Please Brie, don't do this to me, to us, to Layla." He pleaded.

"Don't try and make me feel bad by mentioning Layla. It's probably best that we split up. That way, Layla won't have to hear us arguing any longer."

"What's best for Layla is that she doesn't have a broken family. Please, Gabi. I'm begging you, don't do this." He reasoned.

"I'm sorry but I can't take it any longer. We fight over everything! Even over the Jonas Brothers for G-d's sake!" She yelled.

"I love you, Brie, and if that means things have to change, then I'll do it. We can work through it. Please."

"It's not as easy as that, Troy."

"Yes it is, Brie- All couples fight and we're one of them. This is just a rocky patch, it'll pass-" Troy said, tears forming in his eyes.

Gabriella cut him off. "This isn't just a rocky patch, Troy. This has been going on for six months!"

"Then give me the chance to make things better! I promise I will try my hardest if it means that you stay with me. Please let us try to fix this and make a happy family for our daughter. Please, Gabi don't give up on us. I need you." Troy pleaded her with his eyes.

Gabriella closed her eyes as tears began to cascade down her cheeks as she processed what he had just said. The sound of the door opening caught their attention. The door creaked open as Lucille, Jack, Maria and Layla quietly walked in. The adults could tell by their son and daughters faces that all had not gone well. Gabriella was backed up against the kitchen door with trails of black mascara dripping down her face while an equally torn up Troy stood awkwardly opposite her. Troy and Gabriella's attention was directed at their daughter who stood timidly behind her Grandad.

"Why don't we go and get our pj's on, Layla?" Maria softly said. The little girl nodded and hastily ran up the stairs with Maria following.

Jack and Lucille looked at each other before Jack motioned upstairs with a flick of his head. Lucille nodded and followed behind as Jack began to go up the stairs.

No words were spoken as once again the population of the hallway decreased to two. Troy solemnly glanced up to see his wife wiping away her tears with the back of her hand. "Don't give up on us. That's all I'm asking of you, Gabriella." He whispered softly before looking away from her and silently ascending up the stairs.

Gabriella stood in the same spot she had been glued to for the past five minutes trying to compose herself. What did she do? She could try and mend their relationship, but what if it didn't work and they grew further and further apart? Wouldn't it be better to just end it now? But there was the possibility of she and Troy working things out and them being happy together again. She really didn't know what to do.

**GABRIELLA'S POV**

The next day brought buckets after bucket loads of rain down upon England. The skies were a murky grey colour and the roads were shiny because of the rain. As I came down the stairs at around ten am I could hear my Mom and Troy's parents having a chat. When I entered they immediately went silent so I guessed they were talking about me, or more likely troy and I.

"Good morning, Gabriella." All three chimed.

"Morning."I replied sleepily. I didn't want to say 'good morning' because I didn't think it was one at all. Last night was a nightmare. I hardly got any sleep because I couldn't stop thinking about what went down between troy and I. I love him, I really do, but I don't know if that's enough to end our arguing.

"Where's Layla?"I asked.

"Troy took her to the shop to buy some food for breakfast."Lucille informed me.

"Oh okay" I said while running my fingers through my tangled curls.

"Troy left you something. It's in the living room."Jack said leaning back against the fridge.

I nodded and went into the living room curious to see what he had left me. Over by the TV sat a DVD case with a sticky note attached. I walked over to the DVD and picked it up, reading the note.

_Please watch,  
Troy x_

I did as the note said and placed the DVD into the player. Troy's face then popped up onto the screen. He was wearing the same check shirt as last night so I figured he had filmed this after our confrontation.

**VIDEO  
**  
_"Hey Brie, thank you so much for watching this. I made this to show you that what we have is special. Right now it may be a little less evident, but that special something is still there. So this is why I stayed up and made this DVD. To show you how good we were together and how good we could be if we get through this."_

Troy's image faded before it was replaced by picture of Troy and I. It was taken when we were seventeen after the basketball game. I was wearing a red knee-length dress while troy was in his white wildcats' warm up clothes. We hadn't known the picture had been taken until my Mom got it printed and framed. Troy was kissing my cheek with his arms wrapped around my waist while I was blushing and grinning like the Cheshire cat. The second photo to appear was taken around half a year later during summer after we had worked at Sharpay's country club. Me, Troy, Taylor and Chad had all gone to the beach for the day to celebrate. Taylor had captured the moment of me and Troy stood at the waters edge while sharing a kiss. My arms were wrapped around his neck while his were around my waist, our bodies were flush against one another's. For the next three minutes tonnes of photographs flashed across the screen of birthdays, Halloween, Christmas', graduation, us goofing around, prom, vacations and our engagement at the top of the Eiffel tower which we had got another tourist to take.

Next to appear was not a photo but a video clip of our wedding. It was the part where we were announced as husband and wife. My grin matched Troy's. We had both been waiting for this moment ever since Troy had proposed eight months earlier. Whoever was holding the camera zoomed in as we kissed for the first time as a married couple. We both found it difficult to properly kiss because we were smiling too much, but neither of us cared, we felt as though we were on the top of cloud nine. That video then turned into another clip which was taken later that night. It was our first dance. Even from afar you could tell that we were in our own little bubble. All that mattered at that moment was me and Troy. The camera zoomed in on our faces and you could see the pure love radiating from us as we stared into each others eyes. The video then flashed to photos of our honeymoon. We looked like any typical newly weds as we were either cuddling or kissing in every single picture.

_Troy's face then reappeared. "I hope you enjoyed re-living those extremely happy memories, because I sure did. Our wedding was one of the two best days of my entire life. When I saw you walk down the aisle you looked like an angel. I couldn't believe that I was the one you were marrying. I didn't feel worthy. But as soon as you smiled at me and looked me in the eye I knew that you love me just as much as I love you. The other best day of my life was when our beautiful little daughter was brought into the world. She was and still is so precious and beautiful and God only gives that gift to couples who he believes deserve it. _

_The screen faded again as the video changed to Troy's face again but this time he wasn't in the cottage. _

"_Is this thing on?" Troy's puzzled face questioned waving his hand in front of the camera lens._

"_Is the there a red circle flashing on the screen?" I heard my voice come from behind the camera. Troy's eyes looked at the screen for a second before he nodded and turned the camera to face me. I was sat on a hospital bed wearing one of Troy's t-shirts. I had opted against the silly plastic night gowns the hospital provided seeing as I felt more comfortable wearing Troy's clothes. It must have been his scent. I loved the cologne he used. So much that I would always buy him it whenever he ran out before he had the chance to go for another option. He was keeping that cologne whether he liked it or not. The only thing that was different about me then to now appearance wise is the huge rounded bump instead of my now near enough flat stomach. This video was taken the day I gave birth to Layla._

"_Okay, so today is May 20th 2015 and Gabriella went into labour about an hour and forty....six minutes ago." I giggled. "Yes I noted the exact time," He grinned playfully. "I'm excited to be a daddy, what do you expect? So are you hanging in there?" He asked._

_I nodded and smiled softly. "Just about. It's soo boring sitting here though. I just want the baby to come out."_

"_Me too, so it think it's time to whip out the Bolton-style in-labour entertainment." He said playfully._

_I giggled and rested my head back against the pillow."When have you ever 'whipped out' this entertainment before?" I asked quoting 'whipped out' with my fingers._

"_I haven't, I invented it especially for you." He said with a wink. "Now don't you feel lucky?"_

_I giggled at his silliness. "Very." I commented sarcastically before my face contorted in pain as a contraction rippled through my body. _

_"That's it, baby. Keep breathing."Troy told me while gripping my hand in his._

My face gradually began to regain it's normal appearance as the contraction subsided.

"_Okay entertain me, Bolton." I challenged._

_Troy thought for a moment before speaking. "Okay, here's some of my best chat up lines-Was your father a thief? 'Cause someone stole the stars from the sky and put them in your eyes!"_

_I giggled at his cheesy dorkiness. "Oh you like that one, do ya? Here's another one- __I guess you can kiss heaven goodbye. Because it has got to be a sin to look that good." He joked, winking at me._

"_You should be glad you didn't use them when you met me or we wouldn't be sitting here right now." I teased._

_Troy grinned before the camera moved to the side which I was guessing was because he kissed me. The camera came back to me. "I'm very glad." The camera moved again and Troy's face appeared next to mine and he smiled at the camera._

_The picture fades then another clip comes on dated three hours later than the last._

"Can't I push yet? Troy it hurts and it feels like I really need to push!"I moaned.

"You cant push yet. The midwife will tell you when you can. You're doing so amazing, just hang in there a little longer."The midwife then came in holding a clipboard and pen. "Hey Gabriella, I'm just going to see how far dilated you are, okay?"

I nodded and closed my eyes sleepily while leaning my head back against the pillow. The midwife checked me while troys thumb continually stroked the back of my hand which was resting on my bump. The camera was aimed at me from the waist up.

"Okay, your 10cms, we can get started."she informed.

"Finally!"I said relieved and excited to see my baby I had been waiting a long six and a half months for. Me and troy didn't know about the pregnancy until I was 8 weeks into it and I'd gone into labour two weeks early. Troy looked at me and his smile matched mine.

"Okay when the next contraction comes I want you to push for ten seconds,Gabriella"Claire, the midwife instructed me. "Troy will you count down from ten for Gabriella?" Claire asked Troy and he nodded. Troy positioned the camera on the bedside cabinet beside me while he stood on the opposite side of the bed holding my hand.

As the next contraction hit me, I squeezed Troy's hand who started to count as I pushed for my life. Ten seconds later I stopped pushing.

"You're doing awesome, Brie."Troy praised as he wiped my sweaty forehead with a wet cloth before kissing it.

"That was great, Gabriella,now push again on your next contraction."Claire instructed.

A few second later I pushed again. "The head is crowning, keep going, Gabriella, you're doing wonderful."

_I looked over at Troy who was watching me with a huge smile playing on his lips. A smiled tiredly at him before pushing again, gripping onto his hand tightly. Troy's face scrunched up in pain._

"_Okay the head is out!" Claire announced. "Keep pushing."_

"_I don't think I can. I'm too tired and it hurts too much!" I cried._

"_Hey, Hey, Hey, Gabi, you can do this. You're strong and I am so incredibly proud of you right now." Troy soothed, stroking my hair and kissing the side of my head. I looked up at him and we gazed at each other for a moment before I looked straight ahead and pushed again. This carried on for another ten minutes before loud cries and Claire saying "Congratulations! It's a girl!"_

_Troy's face lit up before he smothered my face in kisses, chanting "I love you" over and over again._

_A minute later a small bundle was placed into my arms. Troy picked up the camera and aimed it at our newborn baby. "She's so beautiful, Gabi." _

_The screen then flashed to a picture taken of Me, Troy and Layla not long after the birth. We were both genuinely grinning ecstatically. I was holding Layla and Troy had his arm wrapped around me tightly. Troy's face then appeared again._

_What a day, huh? I'll never forget that day, my life changed that day and I am so glad it did. I love Layla so much and I love you. So I'm not going to give up on us and I hope you aren't either._

_**End of video**_

Layla definitely was as Troy put it. Beautiful. The little baby had my olive skin and a dark almost black mop of hair along with my button nose. She also had long eyelashes which both Troy and I had. From Troy she had inherited his lips and her eyes were blue although at that point we didn't know if they would stay that colour. All in all, she was and still is perfect. Layla was something we had made together and Troy was so supportive throughout the whole pregnancy and birth. He quickly adapted to being a daddy too. He didn't mind changing stinky diapers or cleaning up vomit. He would get up in the middle of the night to feed without complaining and he pampered me like a Princess too, showering me with flowers and my favourite chocolates and always reminding me how much he loves me.

I had to agree with him, we were good together, so good. It was like a fairytale, sometimes I even had to pinch my self to check that it all wasn't a dream. But had that fairytale ended with no hope of beginning again? What should I do?

**Hey, hope you like it although I'm not too sure about it myself. Please review again and tell me what you think :)**


	4. Chapter 4

**Hey, I was a little disappointed with the amount of reviews for the last chapter. For chapter two I got 17 but for chapter three I only got 7 so PLEASE review if you read this! And thank you to those who do review :) Anyway, here's chapter 4, hope you like it.**

**Gabriella's P.O.V**

I sat for a little while after watching Troy's video mulling over my thoughts before Layla and Troy returned from the shop. Once Layla saw that I was now awake she ran and jumped into my awaiting arms.

"Good morning, Mommy! We got stuff to make pancakes with!"She informed me, her curls falling into her sparkling eyes.

I gently swept her hair behind her ear before leaning forward and kissing her forehead as she settled in my lap. "That's great, Layls. I'm starving!" I said which was accompanied by a rumble from my stomach. Layla giggled and looked over at Troy who was stood in the doorway watching the news headlines which I had switched on around five minutes ago to check the weather forecast. She then looked back at me.

"Are you happier today?"She asked me .

"Why?"

"Because last night you was crying." She said sullenly. Out of the corner of my eye I saw Troy looking over at us, no longer watching the news. "I was crying because..I had a really bad headache and that's why I came back here too, so I could go to bed."

"I know you're lying, Mommy." Layla said quietly, looking down.

I didn't know what to say at that point. Layla was clever. She knew that the reason I was crying wasn't because I had a headache, of course she knew, she's the smartest in her class.

"Layla, why don't you go and start making the pancakes with Grandpa and your Grandma's? And then when me and Mommy have talked we'll come and eat some?" Troy cut in, stepping into the living room.

Layla looked up at her daddy as he spoke and paused before nodding and getting off my lap and hurrying out of the room. I watched after her and when she was out of sight I looked up at Troy who was gazing back at me.

"Did you watch it?" He asked nervously.

I simply nodded. "Did it make you change your mind or anything?" He carried on, a tinge of hope laced within his voice.

"I can't deny that we had some amazing times together."I told him.

"But?" He inquired.

"How do we know that all that isn't the past now, how can we be sure that we'll continue to have great times together?" I questioned.

"Gab, if this is about the arguing, we can stop that! We got along once and I know that we can get along again. We just need to work at it." Troy reasoned, sitting down at the opposite end of the sofa to me.

I nodded and looked down because I didn't want him to see the tears brimming in my eyes. But he lifted my head and wiped away my tears as they fell with the pad of his thumb. He then stroked my cheek using the same thumb causing me to close my eyes. This was the first time in six months that we had properly touched. I opened my eyes again to find his face inching closer and his gaze looking directly into my eyes. And before I knew what was happening, his lips were on mine. The kiss started of soft and hesitant before it soon turned more passionate as we discovered each others lips again. Troy's hand, which was still laying on my cheek, slid to the back of my head, delving his fingers into the dark long strands of curls there. I grasped his hoodie in my clenched fists and pulled him closer and I deepened the kiss. Sparks zapped throughout my body as I felt the same intense feelings of joy and contentment as I always did when Troy kissed me. After a few, okay maybe more than a few, minutes of complete and utter bliss I slowly pulled away. Troy rested his forehead on mine before whispering, "Tell me that you didn't feel anything then and I'll leave you alone."

As I looked into his eyes I saw the same man I met and fell in love with ten years ago. The same man I married at the young age of twenty one and the same man that helped me through the hardships of pregnancy and giving birth nine months later. "If if did, I'd be lying." I whispered back.

He smiled at me before leaning in again and capturing my lips again with his. I slid my arms up his chest and rested my hands in his hair as his arms moved down to around my waist. As we pulled away I buried my face into his chest and inhaled the scent I had so badly missed. He smelt amazing and at that moment in time I felt as though nothing could harm me as Troy tightened his arms around me and kissed the side of my head affectionately. "I promise you that I will try my utter most hardest to fix our relationship. I'm not letting you go. Ever." He murmured into my ear, nuzzling his nose into my curls.

"I'll try my hardest too." I mumbled, my face still hidden in his chest. A few seconds later the rumble from my stomach interrupted the silence that filled the room. We both chuckled.

"Come on, let's go get some pancakes." Troy smiled, pulling away gently and tugging me into a standing position with him.

Troy walked out of the living room, through the hall way and into the kitchen and I followed in his footsteps. Our hands were joined together the whole time, his larger one encasing my smaller hand. The people in the kitchen turned silent upon our entrance as they spotted our connected hands dangling between us.

"Have you guys made up?" Jack asked from the table where he was reading the newspaper.

I nodded. "We're not giving up on our relationship. It'll be tough trying to resist arguing but it's worth it." I informed them, wrapping my arms around Troy's waist and leaning my head on his chest.

"Finally you two have seen some sense!" Lucille exclaimed, clasping her hands together underneath her chin.

"I'm glad you made up in time for Christmas!"My mom smiled. It was December 23rd today. She placed the first pancake onto a plate. "Now who wants the first pancake?" She enquired.

Later on that day around 7:30 pm the rain was still heavily pelting down outside as we tucked Layla into her bed. This was the first time in ages that we had done so together. Usually it one just one of us alone and you could tell that Layla was happy about it being back to normal. Our little girl was snuggled under the covers dressed in her nice and warm pj's clutching her favourite teddy bear close to her chest. Troy and I were knelt next to each other on the floor next to the bed as Troy read a fairytale book to Layla. During the day we had taken Layla to a petting farm where she got to feed lambs and baby goats, take a look at many farm animals, hold baby chicks and bunnies, ride a pony and go on an exciting tractor ride.

"..and they all lived happily ever after." He finished, closing the book and placing it on the soft carpet next to him.

"Wasn't that a nice story?" I whispered, stroking the little girls hair. Layla nodded sleepily and it was evident that she was on the brink of falling to sleep. Troy leaned over and kissed Layla's forehead whispering that he loves her before I did the same. Before we even reached the door Layla was fast asleep.

I lead Troy into mine and my Mum's room and sat down on the bed. Troy stood awkwardly by the door, shuffling his feet with his hands stuck in his pockets.

I opened my arms wide. "Come here." I told his with a soft grin.

Troy grinned back at me and moved towards me, wrapping his arms around me and lifting me up before plopping down on the bed and placing me on his lap keeping his arms firmly encircling me. I swivelled round and straddled him to make the position more comfy and rested my arms around his shoulders and placed my forehead on his.

"I've missed this." Troy said quietly, nudging my nose with his.

I smiled affectionately at him and kisses his lips gently. "Me too. I can't believe we haven't argued since last night, it's a record." I joked.

"I record that's well worth trying to beat." He returned, twiddling a piece of my hair between his fingers. My hair reached half way down my back so when Troy had his arms wrapped around my waist he could easily slip his hands higher and reach my hair. I leaned in and kissed him lustfully, sliding my tongue along his lower lip asking for entrance. Troy allowed me and soon our tongues were playing a game of tag. After a few minutes I pulled back suddenly, realising something.

"I haven't got you a Christmas present!"I blurted out.

Troy chuckled at me. "Brie, I don't need a present, this.." He gestured to us with his eyes. "Is all I need. Nothing could make me happier this Christmas than us not arguing any more."

"Are you sure? You're not just saying that to be polite are you?" I asked.

"Yeah, I'm sure. Right now, I'm the happiest man alive and I mean that so don't fret, baby." My heart warmed as he called be 'baby'. It had been a long time since I had heard him call me that, way too long. I loved it when he called me it, some people find pet names degrading but I think they're cute as long as they aren't over used. Over use of them is just sickly.

"I love you so much, Troy. I wish I could make up for the past six months of me not telling you that."

"You don't need to make up for it. Even when we were arguing I know that you love me, if you didn't then you wouldn't have put up with it for six months. I love you too." He said honestly, peppering my face with butterfly kisses. "Can I sleep with you tonight?"He asked hopefully.

"But there's only single beds in here, your parents have the double." I said confused.

"So? We'll squeeze in, I don't plan on letting you go all night so a single bed is enough."He pleaded with puppy eyes.

It only took one look to make me melt and give in. "Okay, I'll go and ask my mom if she'll sleep with Layla. I don't want her in the other bed, it'll be weird." I said with a chuckle, lifting my body off of Troy's. As I moved to stand up I felt something holding me down.

"I'll miss you." Troy pouted childishly.

I giggled at his cuteness, leaning down to kiss him chastely. "I'll be back in a minute, babe." I stood up and made my way out of the bedroom before I heard him call out "I'll be waiting!"

I grinned to myself. Everything seemed almost back to normal, I just hoped that it would stay that way.


	5. Chapter 5

_Is it better? Is it worse?  
Are we sitting in reverse?  
It's just like we're going backwards  
I know where I want this to go  
Driving fast but let's go slow  
What I don't wanna do is crash, no_

Just know that you're not in this thing alone  
There's always a place in me you can call home  
Whenever you feel like we're growing apart  
Let's just go back, back, back, back, back to the start 

Later that night Troy and Gabriella were snuggled up in the single bed. It was a tight squeeze and the pair were trying their very best to cope with the accidental kicks to the shins and Gabriella almost kneeing Troy in a very sensitive place. They had been in bed around an hour and forty five minutes, with the last hour and a half being occupied by trying to fall to sleep. Despite the temperatures outside being below freezing, Gabriella was finding the small confinements of the single bed stuffy and extremely uncomfortable. So she decided to flip her side of the covers down but that resulted in Troy's half of the covers being pulled down too.

"Gabi!" Troy whined.

"What? I'm too hot!"She huffed, flipping onto her back.

"Well there's no need to pull my half of the covers off!"

"In case you hadn't noticed, this is a single cover, I can't help the fact that it's too small to cover us both properly."She argued.

"This was a bad idea, I can't sleep this way!"Troy sighed, sitting up.

"Then get in the other bed!" Gabi snapped, rolling onto her side, facing the wall.

Troy closed his eyes tightly. His lack of sleep along with his frustration were not a good mix meaning he wasn't in the best of moods.

"What are you waiting for?"Gabriella asked impatiently.

"Chill your beans, I'm going!" he said bluntly, swinging his legs over the side of the bed and standing up before crawling into the bed on the opposite side of the room.

_Anything that's worth having  
Is sure enough worth fighting for  
Quitting's out of the question  
When it gets tough gotta fight some more_

We gotta fight, fight, fight, fight, fight for this love  
We gotta fight, fight, fight, fight, fight for this love  
We gotta fight, fight, fight, fight, fight for this love  
If it's worth having it's worth fighting for 

_  
_

The next morning, Gabriella awoke to the sound of rain gently pattering against the window. She rolled her eyes at the typical British weather before looking over at the sleeping form lying in the  
other bed. Memories of last night flooded back to her as she remembered how they had argued about sleeping arrangements. She sighed before getting out of bed and taking the few steps towards the other bed. She slowly reached down and gently ran her fingers through Troy's soft hair. She perched on the edge of the bed, continuing her gentle motions before leaning down and kissing his forehead. "Troy, wakey wakey." she cooed.

Troy's nose scrunched up, his brow furrowing as he brought himself out from a deep slumber. His eyes slowly opened to be met by a pair of chocolate eyes gazing back at him. He offered her a small smile, realising that she wasn't annoyed with him because she was being affectionate.

"I'm sorry about last night." She said quietly, biting in her bottom lip.

Troy reached up and gently flicked below her lower lip, causing her to release it from her teeth's grip. "I'm sorry too." He grabbed her hand gently. "This is going to be harder than we thought, isn't it?" He said huskily.

Gabriella nodded, glancing down at the eternity ring troy had given her upon the birth of Layla remembering the promise they made to be together for the rest of their lives. "We'll just have to try harder."

"Yeah, we will." he said looking at her face which was still looking down at her ring. Opening up his arms, he gripped her shoulders before pulling her down to rest on his chest. She immediately lay her hand over his stomach, resting her head over his beating heart. He wrapped both his arms around her shoulders, caging her in his embrace while placing kisses on her temple and hair. "Is Layla awake yet?"He asked.

"I don't think so, I've not seen or heard her anyway."

"Hmm, it's 9:45-"

Gabriella's eyes shot open "Crap I was supposed to be making breakfast for everyone today!"She panicked, scrambling off the bed. She pulled on her fluffy dressing gown as she walked out of the bedroom leaving a bewildered Troy in bed. He realized that if Gabi was making breakfast  
now then Layla needed to be awake so he got out of bed too, making his way towards Layla's room.

A few minutes later Troy came into the kitchen cradling his sleepy daughter to his chest. Gabriella, Lucille and Maria looked up upon Troy and Layla's entrance greeting them with a good morning and a kiss from just Gabriella.

Troy readjusted Layla so that she now sat on his hip before pulling his wife into his embrace too.

"Morning Mom, Maria."He nodded at them. "Good morning, gorgeous."He whispered looking down at his wife, placing a kiss on her forhead.

She blushed, wrapping her arms around his waist."Are you hungry, layla?"she asked placing a curl that had fallen over her blue eyes behind he ear.

The little girl nodded and snuggled into her daddys shoulder further. "What do you want for breakfast then? We have bagels, waffles, toast, cereal, eggs, sausage and bacon." Gabriella asked and listed.

"Soldiers and egg, please"Layla mumbled.

"Okay, what about you?"Gabriella asked looking up at Troy.

"You" he answered huskily, dipping his head and placing a deep kiss on her lips.

Gabriella smiled into the kiss before pulling away a few seconds later. "Seriously, what do you want for breakfast?"she giggled.

"I was being serious! But I'll have waffles anyway," He grinned. Gabriella smiled back at him before reaching up and pecking his lips gently before untangling herself from his hold and beginning to make breakfast. Troy sat down at the table with layla still in his lap, tickling her on her stomach to wake her up. She wriggled and giggled before poking Troy in the side and looking up at him. "Daddy! That tickles!"

"It was supposed to, silly."He cooed, kissing her cheek once she sat upright in his lap facing him.

Over at the other end of the dining table, Maria and Lucille sat smiling as they observed the little happy family, thankful that they were back on track with their relationship. Their thoughts were boosted once they heard troys voice.

"Gab?"

"Hmm?"Gabriella replied, her back to him.

"I love you," He declared, smiling adorigly at her.

Gabriella turned around, smiling bashfully. "I love you too."

About an hour later, when Layla was finally fully awake, everybody got dressed and ready to go out for the day. They all wrapped up warm ready to face the below freezing temperatres outside. After a twenty minute journey the six of them arrived in a fairly large town surrounded by tall green hills and plenty of leave-less trees. Troy parked the car in a packed car park before they all clambered out into the brisk chilly air. Layla grabbed Maria's hand, chatting about what Santa was going to bring her that night. Troy walked with his parents talking about what Troy, Gabriella and Layla had got up to at the farm yesterday. This left Gabriella to walk alone, not that she minded. It gave her a chance to think about how things were so much better already between her and Troy and how with a little work, their arguments could cease to exist. But it didn't take long for Troy to slow down his pace until Gabriella caught up with him, slipping her hand into his.

"You okay?" he questioned.

Gabriella nodded, beaming at him causing him to squeeze her hand gently, beaming right back at her.

"Look! It's Santa's house!!" Layla exclaimed, pointing over towards where there was a glittering white little building situated in the middle of the town sqaure. The grotto was sat on top of some fake authentic looking snow and surrounded by fairy lights, Christmas trees, giant candy canes and dancing snowmen with Christmas music flowing joyfully out of the speakers.

"Can we go see Santa?"Layla asked pleadingly.

"Sure," Troy said making the group travel towards the grotto and join the queue of excited children waiting with their parents. Layla moved towards her parents, hugging Troy's leg. Troy ruffled her hair, keeping his hand rested on top of her head. Gabriella shivered, the crisp winds numbing her fingers until they started to tingle. She rubbed her hands together trying to cause friction between them, cursing herself for forgetting her gloves back at the cottage. Troy saw his wife's actions and pulled her into his side, wrapping his free arm around her mid back, rubbing gently. Gabriella decided to warm her hands up by sticking them under Troy's coat, resting them against his toned sweatshirt clad chest.

"Are you using your cold hands as an excuse to touch my impeccably muscle-y chest?" He teased.

Gabriella looked up at him, grinning. "Guilty as charged." She joked as they moved forwards in the line.

"What are you gonna ask Santa for, Sweetie?" Gabriella asked a minute later.

"It's a secret." She replied, smiling sweetly.

"Oh is it now?" Troy said and Layla nodded.

Five minutes later it was Layla's turn to see Santa. She eagerly bounded up to the white bearded man dressed in the infamous red outfit with a white trim.

"Hello there little one. What's your name?" Asked Santa with a British accent.

"Layla Abigail Bolton. I come from America! We came on a plane here!" She told him, her blue eyes dancing in delight as Troy, Gabriella and the grandparents stood at the side smiling proudly at the little girl.

"Really? How exciting! Do you know where I come from?" He asked.

"Lapland! That's what Daddy told me." She said, pointing at Troy.

Santa looked over at Troy and smiled before looking back at Layla. "He's correct. You have a smart daddy."He smiled.

"I know. And Mommy. She was a schol- scholasic decaflon champion." Layla babbled, having trouble pronouncing 'Scholastic Decathlon'.

The adults chuckled at Layla's ability to chat with anyone and tell them everything.

"So the big question is: What do you want for Christmas?" Santa asked.

"To be a cheerleader!"She smiled.

"Righty oh, I'll do the best I can. Is there anything else?"

Layla beckoned Santa to bend forwards before she whispered into his ear. Troy and Gabriella wondered what she asked for. After Layla had told him what she wanted, Santa smiled and looked at Troy and Gabriella before looking back at Layla. "I'll try my hardest to get you that."

"Picture time!" A woman dressed as an elf announced holding up a polaroid camera. Layla sat on Santa's knee, smiling brightly at the camera and standing up once the picture was snapped.

"Bye Santa!"She said waving at him as she made her way towards her parents and grandparents where Gabriella was collecting the developed photo from the elf. As they made their way out of the grotto, Layla curiously asked, "How does Santa deliver presents to everyone in the world in just one night?"

"He's magic!" Jack replied. "He has a magic sleigh which zooms at a million miles per hour through the sky lead by flying reindeer."

"Really? Wow!" Layla said, imagining the scenario her granddad had just portrayed.

The six of them spent the rest of the day having lunch in a little café, doing some last minute shopping. Around 4pm Troy, Layla and Gabriella went ice skating while Maria, Jack and Lucille carried on shopping since Layla was getting fed up with trudging around stores. The trio were having fun up until Gabriella Layla slipped on the ice rink and badly bruised her knee causing the little girl to burst into tears as she cradled her knee. Troy immediately picked Layla up, so that other skaters wouldn't accidentally skate over her fingers. He carried her over to the side, exiting the rink and placing her down on the floor, kneeling down next to her.

"Are you okay, Princess?" He asked, his fatherly instincts kicking in.

Layla shook her head, tears continuing to roll down her cheeks. Troy gingerly rolled up Layla's jeans until they reached past her knee. A large ugly purple bruise sat on the skin of her little knee already. Troy cupped the back of her knee, inspecting the injury.

"It's just a bruise, nothing is broken, you'll be okay in a bit, Layls." He soothed, kissing her forehead. Gabriella returned a second later from getting hot drinks and once she saw her daughter crying on the floor, she rushed over, placing the drinks on the table, before crouching down.

"Did you fall over, Sweetie?"

Layla nodded, wiping her eyes. "Daddy let me skate on my own for a second."

"He what?" Gabriella seethed, shooting her gaze towards Troy.

"It was only for a second and I was right behind her!" He defended.

"That doesn't matter, she still fell and hurt herself. Why did you let her? She's not old enough! She's only five years old!"

"I thought she was ready! I'm sorry, okay? It's not like I knew she was going to fall, if I did I wouldn't have let go of her hand." Troy apologised, sensing another argument brewing.

"Well you should have thought about the consequences before you let go, shouldn't you?" Gabriella hissed, gently pulling Layla's Jean leg back down before pulling off her little skates.

"Will you get Layla's shoes, please?" Gabriella asked bluntly.

"Gab, please don't be mad at me-" He started but Gabriella cut him off.

"Troy, just get me the shoes. That's all I'm asking." She snapped.

Troy sighed before going around the table, retrieving Layla's ugg boots and bringing them back to them. Gabriella snatched them out of his grip, sliding her daughters feet into them before helping her stand up.

"Gabi, come on, don't be mad at me, it's only a bruise, she's fine." Troy said pulling off his skates. He picked up his, Gabriella's and Layla's skates handing them back to the staff and following his wife and daughter.

Troy reached for Gabriella's hand, tugging her to a stop before pulling her into his chest. Gabriella tensed up before relaxing as she thought about what they had just done. Argued. She was so angry at herself for blaming Troy and causing the whole situation. Her anger soon turned into tears.

"Hey, don't cry, it's okay, this was just another bump in the road, but like this morning, we'll get over it." Troy soothed, bringing Layla to stand close to their sides.

"I'm sorry, I shouldn't have blamed you. If I hadn't we would have avoided arguing." She said quietly into his shoulder.

"It's not your entirely fault, I shouldn't have let go of her so we're equal." Troy whispered into her ear, kissing the shell. "We'll be okay, right?"

Gabriella nodded and whispered. "Yeah, we will, we just have to fight for this."

_Now every day ain't gon' be no picnic  
Love ain't a walk in the park  
All you can do is make the best of it now  
Can't be afraid of the dark_

Just know that you're not in this thing alone  
There's always a place in me you can call home  
Whenever you feel like we're growing apart  
Let's just go back, back, back, back, back to the start

Anything that's worth having  
Is sure enough worth fighting for  
Quitting's out of the question  
When it gets tough gotta fight some more

We gotta fight, fight, fight, fight, fight for this love  
We gotta fight, fight, fight, fight, fight for this love  
We gotta fight, fight, fight, fight, fight for this love  
If it's worth having it's worth fighting for 

**Please review :) I was chuffed with the last chapters reviews, thank you so much. Especially to those who have reviewed every chapter.**

**Sorry this took a while, the amount of school work I have to do is immense, and I don't even get a break over Christmas, if I want to finish any of it. I have Spanish, English and Science exams in January along with my art coursework deadline drawing closer and closer. :/**

**Gina, yup I remember you lol thanks for the name btw it's a cute name that I love :) and your comment made me smile and want to do this chapter today!**

**So please review :) and I will try to update as much as I can.**

**p.s. The song is this chapter is 'Fight for this love'- Cheryl Cole. I thought it matched Troy and Gabriella's situation when I listened to it on 'Cheryl Cole's night in' =D**_  
_


	6. Chapter 6

Within an hour Troy, Gabi and Layla had met up with Jack,Lucille and Maria before travelling back to the cottage to prepare for Christmas day. Gabriella and Layla set about making cookies for Santa because Layla thought that he would prefer them more than mince pies because every one else in the world gave him those. Maria and Lucille were sat in the living room watching a festive film while Jack sat in the arm chair reading the newspaper. Troy meanwhile had just finished wrapping his last minute presents and running a bath for Layla before he joined his wife and daughter in the kitchen.

As he walked into the room he was greeted by the sound of his girls laughing happily. His heart warmed at the sound, glad to see both of them so happy.

"How are the cookies going?"he asked, hopping up onto one of the bar stools.

"Great,they've just gone in the oven, Santa will love them!" Gabriella said warmly.

"What about all the reindeer? Won't they be hungry too?" Layla asked curiously.

"We can leave some carrots and milk out, they love those."Troy told her, picking her up off the counter and resting the five year old on his hip. "While the cookies are in the oven, I'm going to give you a bath while your gorgeous Mommy relaxes."

Gabriella smiled at her husband affectionately before walking out of the kitchen with Troy and Layla following. Just as they reached the door way, Gabriella stopped, realising she needed to take the oven timer with her if she wanted to be able hear it go off in the living room. She spun around colliding into Troy with an 'oof'.Gabriella giggled along with Troy and just as she was about to squeeze past him Layla interrupted.

"Kiss!" she said pointing to the top of the doorway.

Troy and Gabriella looked up and saw mistletoe hung where their daughter was pointing. The couple laughed before Gabriella stood on her tip toes and Troy placed his free hand on Gabriella's cheek, leaning in to connect their lips in a soft kiss. They pulled back a moment later grinning like a pair of Cheshire cats before going their seperate ways.

Half an hour later after Layla had had a bath the family joined Jack, Lucille and Maria in the living room to watch 'Elf'. Layla was sat on her Grandpa's lap while Troy and Gabriella sat on one of the two couches in the room. Gabriella was lying on her side in between Troy's legs, resting her cheek on his stomach while Troy ran his fingers through her hair. The large Christmas tree, decorated with fairy lights and red decorations, in the corner of the room sparkled and glittered reflecting upon everyone's faces as soft laughter slipped from their lips while they watched Buddy the elf embark on his adventure in New York City. Just as Troy's eyes were about to fall closed with tiredness his daughter shot up from her Grandpa's knee and bounded up to the bay window.

"It's snowing!" She shrieked, holding on to the window ledge while jumping up and down in excitement. The adults stood up, joining the youngster by the window and sharing her amazement at the white snowflakes that were slowly casting a blanket upon the ground outside. Living in Albuquerque meant that snow was foreign to them unless they went across the country. Troy and Gabriella had witnessed snow when they met each other at the Ski Lodge in Colorado as had their parents who were with them. This, however, was the first time Layla had seen real snow seeing as the only vacations she had been on were to hot places like Florida.

"Can I go outside?" Layla asked hopefully, tugging on her parents' hands.

Gabriella and Troy looked at the clock which read 8pm, past Layla's bed time but it was Christmas Eve and the first time their daughter had seen snow so they couldn't say no. "Go on then, you have to wrap up first though, it'll be freezing out there, I don't want you catching a cold." Gabriella said, taking Layla's hand and leading her into the hallway. She opened the cupboard under the stairs pulling out Layla's coat, hat,gloves, scarf and wellies along with her own set of the clothing articles but swapping the wellies for Uggs. Just as Gabriella was pulling Layla's pink hat over her little head Troy entered the hallway pulling out his own warm clothes.

"Are they coming out?" Gabriella asked referring to their parents.

Troy pulled on his gloves, "Nope, they say it's too cold for them, they're stopping in the warm living room." He smiled, zipping up his coat.

Gabriella nodded, opening the front door. Layla immediately ran outside to feel the small speck of white fall upon her body. Troy grabbed his camera from in the living room, stuffing it in his coat pocket before joining the girls outside. Layla was busy stood with her mouth open hoping to catch a snowflake on her tongue only to learn that they melt when you do so. Troy walked up to his wife, wrapping his arms around her from behind, placing a kiss on top of her head.

"Isn't is pretty, Layla?" Gabriella asked, relaxing back into Troy's arms, looping her arms around his forearms and holding them.

"Yeah, It's all sparkly!"She replied, clapping her hands in front of her, attempting to catch some of the snow.

"Hey Layla." Troy called out.

The little girl turned around to see what her daddy wanted only to be met by a ball of snow hitting her face. She giggled and shrieked as the cold substance touched her skin. "Daddy! You're such a meanie pants!" She shouted playfully, bending down to gather some snow in her small gloved hands. Gabriella decided to assist her daughter by gathering snow as well and adding it to Layla's mini snowball. Troy meanwhile was making launching snowballs at his two girls from behind the car.

"Throw it Layla!" Gabriella instructed.

Layla swing her arm backwards before lunging it forward and releasing the ball only to land a few feet away from her on the ground.

"Ooooh, try again!" Gabriella said, handing her a snowball she had just made a moment ago. Layla ran around the car and threw the snowball at a unaware and crouching Troy, hitting him on the back of his head. Troy flinched as the snow slid down the back of his coat. "Oh I'm gonna get you for that, Princess!" He retaliated, picking up his ready made snowballs and throwing some of them at his daughter as she ran away giggling. Gabriella stood laughing at her husband and daughter as they ran around with mainly Troy hitting Layla with snow because Layla wasn't quick enough at making them.

"Mommy, help me!" She yelled, giggling as her Dad continued to pelt her with snowballs as she attempted to make her own. Gabriella did as Layla asked her to do and began forming balls of snow before throwing one at Troy.

"Oh so is that how it is, my two girls ganging up on me?"Troy asked playfully.

They both nodded, backing away as Troy approached them. He caught and grabbed Gabriella around the waist, holding her close to his chest before he scooped up Layla. The youngster wrapped her arms around his neck, snuggling into his neck. Gabriella wrapped her arms around his waist, resting her head against his shoulder as she looked up at him adoringly.

"I've missed moments like these." Gabriella said softly, kissing Troy's cheek causing him to smile back at her.

"Me too." He murmured. He then dropped his arm from around his wife momentarily retrieving his camera from his pocket. Gabriella took it from him, holding it out in front of them, keeping one hand around his waist, as Troy put his arm around her shoulder, tugging her in closer to his chest.

"Smile, Layla!" Troy said, shifting her in his arm. The little girl looked at the camera, smiling a smile identical to her Daddy's. Troy and Gabriella both smiled too as Gabriella pushed the button on the camera causing it to flash and snap a picture of the happy family.

They spent the next half an hour building a snowman who Layla affectionately called Dora after one of her favourite cartoon characters. They snapped photographs as they went along of the building process and the final finished product.

"Why don't you make a snow angel, Layls?" Troy said, remembering how she said she wanted to.

Layla nodded. "Yeah!" She sat down on the floor, laying down on her back before moving her arms up and down and her lips open and closed to form an angel shape in the snow. Troy and Gabriella joined in creating a Mommy, Daddy and Child angel in the snow.

Around 10pm once Layla was in bed, Troy and Gabriella decided to get an early night knowing that their daughter would be up super early the next morning. Before they had gone upstairs they set the presents under the tree. Troy had already had a shower, got into his pyjamas and brushed his teeth and Gabriella was doing the same routine now. Remembering their argument that was caused by the beds last night, Troy thought of a solution to avoid further arguments.

When Gabriella came into the bedroom she noticed how Troy had moved the bedside table that was between the two single beds so that the beds could be joined together into a double bed. Troy was seated on one side of the bed with his back resting against the head board, looking through the pictures they had taken on the camera.

"Awe, Troy." Troy looked up, not noticing his wife had entered before hand. "That's so sweet of you." she gushed, smiling at him thankfully.

Troy grinned back at her, holding out his arms once he placed the camera back on the bedside cabinet which had been moved to the side of the room. Gabriella climbed into the bed, snuggling into his chest, placing a kiss on his shoulder.

"I can't believe we didn't think of this solution yesterday." Troy said, rolling onto his side, resting his head on his bent arm and draping the other arm over Gabriella's stomach.

"Me either." Gabriella said, reaching her head up to capture his lips in a kiss. Troy accepted the kiss and returned the gesture with passion. His hand slid from her stomach up to her hair, tangling his fingers in her messy curls as the kiss heated up. Soon enough the pair, minus their clothes, were showing each other just how much they loved them and were willing to mend their relationship.

At 6am the next morning Troy and Gabriella were woken by the sound of the daughter's voice.

"Mommy, Daddy! It's Christmas, get up!" Layla squealed, jumping on the bed and bouncing up and down.

Luckily, Troy and Gabriella had put their pyjamas back on after their activities last night. Troy woke up almost instantly but Gabriella was finding it harder. She buried her head further into Troy's neck, groaning.

"Merry Christmas, Princess." Troy said warmly, gently untangling him self from his wife and wrapping his arms around Layla in a hug.

"Merry Christmas, Daddy." She replied, kissing his cheek sloppily. "Mommy, wake up, we need to see if Santa's been!" Layla poked her Mom's cheek causing Gabriella to wince in slight pain before falling back to sleep.

Troy let Layla go so that she could go and wake up her Grandparents before he rolled onto his side so that he could dust kisses upon Gabriella's cheeks, forehead, chin, nose and finally her lips. To his final kiss she responded sleepily. "Merry Christmas, Baby." He said huskily as he pulled away, sleep still evident in his voice.

Gabriella's long eyelashes fluttered before her eyelids opened to reveal glittering chocolate coloured eyes. Noticing Troy's blissful smile, she returned it. "Merry Christmas." She whispered, bringing her hand up to rest in the hair that fell behind his ear. Just as their lips were about to meet, their daughter rejoined them.

"Merry Christmas, Layls." Gabriella said, pulling the little girl into a hug as Troy got up to use the bathroom.

"Merry Christmas, Momma. Can we go downstairs now?"

Gabriella nodded and Layla scooted of the bed as Gabi pushed back the covers and got up too. They went downstairs and into the living room to find Jack, Lucille and Maria already there.

"Merry Christmas everyone!" Gabriella greeted, hugging them individually.

"Abuela, how do you say Merry Christmas in Spanish?" Layla asked Maria. Lately, Layla had been learning the odd Spanish word or phrase because her Grandma is Spanish and her Mom spoke it occasionally.

"Feliz Navidad." Maria replied with a smile as Troy entered the living room.

"Feliz Navidad everybody!" Layla repeated. "Can I open my presents yet?"

Troy and Gabriella nodded before Layla quickly parked her butt on the floor in front of her presents and began tearing the paper off.

Troy got up from where he was sitting on the couches arm rest and grabbed four presents giving his parents, mother in law and finally his wife one each.

"Thanks, Troy." The elders chorused.

"Troy! I thought you said you didn't get me anything!" Gabriella exclaimed with a grin as he sat down next to her on the sofa.

"I may have lied." he said sheepishly.

Gabriella reached up and grabbed Troy's face between her hands, kissing him softly. "Well, it's a good job I lied too when I told you I hadn't got you one either."

"Look, I got a cheerleader outfit!" Layla squealed, holding up a purple and white cheer leading outfit which was sleeveless along with a pair of purple,white and silver mini pom poms.

"Wow! You can be a cheerleader now!" Lucille commented.

"Can I try it on?" Layla asked.

Maria got up. "Sure, I'll help you." She said, helping the little girl out of her pj's and into her outfit.

"Who's a pretty girl?" Troy smiled. "Give us a twirl, Princess."

Layla did as she was told and spun around on the spot, grinning literally like a child on Christmas morning.

"Beautiful." Gabriella gushed, snapping a picture of the moment on their camera.

"Why don't you open all your other presents, Layla?" Jack prompted with a smile.

The little girl opened the rest of her presents revealing a Dora the explorer doll, Disney Princess barbie dolls and a credit card style object.

"What's this?" She asked.

"That's a membership for the Royal Cheer Academy back home. You're gonna learn how to be a cheerleader!" Gabriella told her excitedly.

"Really?! Wow, this is sooo cool! Thank you, thank you, thank you, Santa!" Layla said joyfully, bouncing up and down on the spot.

"Santa delivered the rest of your presents back home, Sweetie." Troy said but the real reason was because they wouldn't all fit into their suitcases so they could only bring four small things.

"More presents?" Layla asked.

"Just a few that your aunts, uncles and grandparents asked Santa to get for you." Gabriella told her. Layla didn't have any real aunts and uncles seeing as Troy and Gabriella don't have any siblings but Taylor, Chad, Sharpay and Ryan took on the roles and Layla loved them just like they were her aunts and uncles. Aunt Taylor was always there to give her advice and to learn her new things, Uncle Chad always gave her food and played fun games with her, Aunt Sharpay was great at giving her make overs and playing dress up while Uncle Ryan was great at singing and dancing with her.

"Daddy, can you open this for me?" Layla asked, holding out her Dora doll.

"Sure, I'll do that while Mommy and your grandparents open their presents." Troy said, taking the box off of her and starting to open it.

The three adults opened their gifts with excitement. Lucille found perfume and a book she had wanted, Maria got her favourite singer Michael Buble's Cd and a bubble bath set and Jack got the new Red Hawks jersey and two tickets to the game in January.

"I thought me and you could go, Dad. We haven't been in a while." Troy said, referring to the game tickets.

"Thanks Son." Jack said.

Maria and Lucille thanked Troy for their gifts telling them how they had hoped they would be getting the things he got them.

Wrapped in red sparkly paper, Gabriella received a few things. One was a pair of Christian Louboutin heels which she had wanted since the beginning of last January but had never purchased because they were too expensive and two tickets to Paris. "Oh my gosh! Troy you shouldn't have spent so much on me! We can't afford this!"

"Don't worry, I bought the shoes in the January sales last year and the Paris tickets are my treat, a little break just for the two of us for Valentines day. I booked the holiday last March, before things turned sour between--."

Troy was interrupted by his wife jumping on him in a hug, wrapping her arms tightly around his neck. "Thank you, thank you, thank you! You are the best husband a women could have!"

"Your welcome, and a women as amazing as you are deserves a great husband." He grinned, accepting the kiss she wanted to give him. Over from on the sofa next to her Grandpa, Layla had a huge grin on her face as she watched her parents interact. Santa had given her the present she wanted. For her parents to be happy.

Gabriella stood up, retrieving four presents from under the tree. She gave her Mom and in-laws their presents which were spa days for the women and a day of golfing for Jack. The elders thanked Gabriella before Troy was allowed to open his gift. Inside he found a large photo album. On the front was three pictures set in a vertical line. One of Troy and Gabriella's wedding, one from Layla's birth and another of a two year old Layla. He opened the book revealing page after page of photographs and nik naks relating to his life with Gabriella dating from Junior year in High school up until their trip to Disney World with Layla last March. The photos were of partys, weddings,Layla's first day of school, Christmas', Birthday's, holidays and random candids. Some of the photos were accompanied with little comments about when the photos were taken and random memories from those days. With every nik nak such as cinema tickets, a copy of their wedding invitation and Layla's name tag she had when she was born, Gabriella wrote a little note, telling him what each object was. Each page was decorated beautifully and Gabriella had tried her hardest not to make it too girly.

"Gab..."He whispered, looking up at his wife who sat there biting her lip.

"Do you like it? I mean, i know it's a load of rubbish and didn't cost nearly as much as your present to me but--" She babbled.

"Gabby,i love it, this must have took so much thought and time, i don't care about the cost, this is priceless." He said truthfully, resting his palm on her cheek so that he could pull her in for a kiss.

"Are you sure? It's really cheesy. I made it months ago but I never got around to giving it to you." Gabriella asked, still unsure about her gift.

"Well i like cheese, it's my middle name." He joked. "Seriously, i don't care how cheesy it is, it's the best present anyone has ever give me. I love you so much." he said softly.

Gabriella grinned, happy at his response. "I love you too, Troy." She returned, kissing him again.

Troy and Gabriella were then given their gifts from their parents which were a couple of items of clothing for Troy from his parents and a few Cd's from Maria. Gabriella got Zac Efron's autobiography of Troy's parents. They had always joked how similar Troy looked to Zac and Gabriella had to admit she had a crush on him, so Jack and Lucille had bought her his book. She also got new Mac make up from her Mom.

After breakfast and going to Church, the family sat in the living room relaxing while listening to Christmas music. Layla was waving her pom poms around energetically while Troy was looking through the rest of his photo album. Gabriella and Lucille were reading their books while Maria and Jack were talking about every day life things.

"Look, Troy, he looks so much like you." Gabriella said, pointing to a picture of Zac in her book.

Troy looked at the picture."Gab, i still don't see the resemblance." He groaned playfully.

"Well I do! Don't worry, i think he's gorgeous so it's a compliment." She commented.

"Well you look like his fiance Vanessa." Troy replied, noticing a picture of Zac with Vanessa on the page.

"I suppose i do. What a kawinky-dink." She laughed and Troy laughed at her cute phrase.

Around 3pm the family gathered around the tv to watch the British tradition of watching the Queen's speech. Their stomachs were full to the brim with Christmas dinner and pudding.

When the speech had ended, Layla got up to play with her new dolls and Maria decided to suggest something.

"Are you two doing anything tomorrow?" She asked, pointing her question at her daughter and son-in-law.

"Nope. Why?" Gabriella asked.

"We were wondering if you would like us to take care of Layla for the day while you two have some alone time?" She answered.

Troy and Gabriella looked at each other and smiled. This is just what they needed. Some alone time to fully sort out their differences and have some fun together.

"Sure, that would be great. Where do you wanna go, Troy?" Gabriella asked.

"I was thinking we could go to 'Go Ape'. It's a giant obstacle course in the trees, like zip wires and stuff. It would be really fun."

"Trees?"

"I know you're scared of heights, Brie, but i would be right there with you and you'd be harnessed in, you'd be safe, i promise."

Gabriella thought about it for a moment, She guessed it would help build their trust with one another again. "Okay." She agreed.

"Yes! Thanks, babe. You won't regret it." Troy cheered, kissing her gently.

**So there it is, Chapter 6. Sorry this took a while, I've been busy over Christmas! And this week i have to do some revision and art ready for when i go back to school on Monday so i wont be updating for a while, probably at the end of January or something at the latest-Sorry.**

**Anyway, please review :) Thanks to those who do! Happy Early New Year! :D**


	7. Chapter 7

It was 8:00am when Layla Abigail Bolton looked out of the window on the 26th December to see that the snow had unfortunately melted away. Troy and Gabriella had chosen her name because Layla means 'Dark beauty' and with her dark hair and olive skin, the little girl for the name. And Abigail meant 'Fathers Joy' which matched perfectly seeing as Layla was Troy's little Princess. So Layla had names to go with each parent with her looks from Gabriella giving her Layla and Abigail for Troy.

Layla decided to go and wake her parents up so that they could play with her. She got out of bed, walking past a sleeping Maria and went into their room. She found her Daddy curled into her Mommy's back while they slept peacefully. She climbed up onto the bed behind Troy before poking his arm. Having no luck with Troy, Layla reached over and poked Gabriella's arm. Her actions succeeded and Gabriella woke up, rolling over to face a sleeping Troy and the bright blue eyes of her daughter. Gabriella smiled at her little girl. "Morning, Layla." She whispered, not wanting to wake up her husband while she untangled Troy's arms from around her and sat up, rubbing the sleep out of her eyes.

Layla got off the bed and went around to Gabriella's side, climbing in to cuddle up to her. Gabriella wrapped her arms around Layla, kissing the top of her head affectionately.

"Can I wake up Daddy?" Layla asked quietly, wrapping one of Gabriella's curls around her finger just like she did as a baby.

"Not yet, sweetie. Let him sleep. Why don't we go and get some breakfast and watch some cartoons?" Gabriella suggested.

Layla nodded and got out of bed with Gabriella following. For the next hour or so the pair had a breakfast of toast and jam with an already up and awake Maria before watching Layla's favourite cartoons in the living room. Around 8:30 Jack and Lucille had come downstairs and joined Gabriella, Maria and Layla in the living room once they had eaten breakfast.

"Good morning." Lucille greeted as she sat down on one of the arm chairs. Jack smiled and greeted them himself before seating himself on a couch.

"So how are things going between you and Troy, Gabi?" Lucille asked, taking a sip of her coffee.

Gabriella smiled warmly at the mention of her husband. She couldn't believe the drastic change their relationship had overcome in under a week. It was like they had travelled back six months back to where they were before the arguing started.

"Great, we have the odd rough patch every so often but things are getting better." Gabriella said with her smiled still glued to her face.

"Well, it's about time you two sorted things out. It's great to see you both happy again." Jack commented with a smile.

"Layla's happier now aren't you?" Maria asked.

Layla nodded and looked up at Gabriella. "I didn't like it when you and daddy fighted." She said quietly.

"I know and we're sorry. We won't ever fight again, Layls." Gabriella said, kissing the top of Layla's head.

"You promise?"

"I promise, and I know Daddy promises too."

"Daddy promises what?" came Troy's voice.

Everybody looked towards Troy who was stood in the doorway, holding two cups of coffee.

"We promise we won't fight any more, don't we babe?" Gabriella said as Troy sat down next to her and Layla, handing her one of the cups of coffee in his hands.

Gabriella thanked Troy for her drink as Troy nodded. "Yeah. We promise Layla." He said kissing each of his girls affectionately, Layla's on her forehead and Gabriella's on the lips.

"What time should we leave?" Troy asked his wife, wrapping his arm around Gabriella's waist and rolling his head to look at her.

"I'd say around ten-ish?"

Troy nodded. "So in around an hour?"

"Yeah, I should go and get ready then, you know how long it takes me." Gabriella smiled, passing Layla to Troy and standing up.

"Babe, it's an obstacle course in the trees. You don't need to dress up. Sweats and sneakers are what you need to wear."

"I know but it still takes me a while." Gabriella said, going up the stairs.

Around twenty minutes later, Gabriella had cleaned her teeth, washed her face,changed her underwear, pulled her curls into a messy bun and had applied light, natural make-up. She was now stood in only her underwear while debating on which sweats to wear as she felt a pair of arms wrap around her her upper arms, pulling her backwards into the body's chest.

"Hey gorgeous." Troy greeted, placing a kiss on Gabriella's cheek before nuzzling his nose against the same patch of skin.

"Hey handsome." Gabriella greeted back in the same playful tone, rubbing his arms up and down.

"I think you should wear that hoodie." Troy said pointing at a red and white one that was sat at the bottom of the closet.

Gabriella bent down and picked up the one he was pointing at, unfolding it to find that it was the white wildcat hoodie she wore in high school with a red coloured 'Bolton' and the number 14 on the back and the wildcat logo on the front.

"How did that get here?" Gabriella asked, she hadn't worn this since college.

"I knew how much you used to love wearing it and I was hoping you would wear it again." Troy said, scratching the back of his neck.

Gabriella turned around in his arms with the hoodie still in her grasp, wrapping her arms around his neck and looking up at his blushing yet handsome face. "Of course I'll wear it. It has my name on the back now too." She leaned up to kiss him hard on the lips before he deepened the kiss, his thumb stroking her lower back gently.

Gabriella pulled back a moment later, slipping the hoodie over her head and placing her arms through the sleeves and pulling it down her stomach until it covered her white tank top. She then slipped into a pair of black sweat pants before pulling on a pair of rainbow stripy socks and her red converses.

"Is this suitable?" Gabriella asked, turning around to face Troy who was pulling on a pair of grey sweatpants and a black t-shirt which snugly fit his biceps.

Troy looked up and smiled at her appearance. "Perfect, you look so cute in that hoodie." He said, moving forward and pulling her into his arms.

Gabriella blushed, looking down. Troy lifted her chin up using his finger before speaking. "You know, you was wearing that when I realised that I love you."

Gabriella's eyes softened and her heart warmed at his statement.

"It was the last game of senior year, the wildcats were losing and I was doing totally crap and then I saw you in the crowd, cheering me on, wearing that hoodie and that was when I realised that you meant the world to me and that what I had been feeling for you was love." He continued.

A smile spread across Gabriella's face reaching her eyes causing them to glisten, touched by his words. "You've never told me that before."

"I know, now just felt like the right moment." Troy said softly, pulling her in closer and kissing the top of her head as she buried her nose in his shoulder and wrapped her arms around his neck. He glanced at the clock on the bedside table and realised that he should probably get ready to go. "I should go and clean my teeth now if we want to leave at ten." Troy said, making Gabriella look up at him.

"About time, your breath is really stinky." She joked.

"Hey! Just for that, I'm going to make you have to deal with my stinky breath for a little longer." Troy teased, slamming his lips down on hers. Gabriella giggled against his lips causing the corners to turn up into a smile. Gabriella's hands slid to the sides of his face, holding his head in between her palms as the kiss heated up and their tongues played a game of tag.

Around five minutes later the pair pulled away, out of breath. Their eyes remained closed as they tried to catch their breaths. As soon as Troy could breath properly he opened his eyes to see his wife's beautiful orbs gazing back at him. He matched her smile with his own before unwrapping his arms from around her waist and removing hers from around his neck, taking her hands in his.

"Was that supposed to be my punishment?" Gabriella asked teasingly.

"Yup, I know how much you hate kissing me." Troy joked.

"Oh yeah, I despise it." She giggled, letting him know that she was kidding. "Now go and get ready, mister."

"Yes dear."

* * *

After saying goodbye to Layla, Jack, Lucille and Maria, Troy and Gabriella set off for 'Go Ape'.

"What are we doing for New Year?" Gabriella asked, twisting her body in her seat to look at Troy.

"I was thinking we could have everyone round our house for a party, if you wanted?" Troy suggested, flicking on the indicator to turn left.

"Yeah, that would be nice, we haven't had a get together in like forever. I suppose it's because we always ended up arguing, so no one bothered having any." Gabriella said.

"Well that's all in the past now, Ella. Things are only gonna keep on getting better between us, I promise." Troy said, reaching over and linking their hands.

"I promise too." Gabriella smiled before they sat in a comfortable silence for the next five minutes.

"Hey Troy?" Gabriella said, breaking the silence.

"Yeah?"

"I love you."

Troy looked over at her with a smile on his face as they stopped at a traffic light. "I love you too, Ella."

* * *

At around 10:45am Troy and Gabriella were stood in a small group of people wearing helmets and harnesses as they listened to the instructor tell them the safety procedures of the course. After a five minute talk and practice of clipping their harnesses on correctly, the group made their way towards where the course started.

The first half of the course went by like a breeze of wind as Troy and Gabi had fun walking along the beams, crossing bridges crawling through tunnels and other more complicated obstacles. Gabriella had a blast laughing at Troy as he attempted to cross the pole which spun around every time he stepped on it. He was amazed by how Gabriella had managed to cross it without the pole spinning once and now when he tried he couldn't seem to stay balanced.

"Gabi, stop laughing at me!" Troy whined playfully, taking tiny steps along the pole.

Gabriella continued to laugh from her spot at the other end of the pole. "Seriously Troy, I got over it easy, no wobbles at all!"

"That's 'cos you weigh less than me!" Troy reasoned, getting nearer to Gabriella.

"That's not the reason, I'm just better than you are." Gabriella teased, poking her tongue out at him.

Troy chuckled, taking a few more wobbly steps before successfully reaching the podium which Gabriella was stood on.

"Well done, Troysie!" Gabriella said in a baby voice, pinching his cheeks.

"Shush, you." Troy said, wrapping his arms around her once he saw that there was a queue for the next obstacle and placed a kiss on her forehead.

Gabriella wrapped her arms around his waist, leaning her head against his chest so that she could hear his heartbeat. The person in front of them looked at them and smiled.

"Newly-weds huh?" she asked.

The married pair looked at each other and shared a smile. Gabriella shook her head. "We've actually been married for six years."

"Oh, sorry, it's just that you seem like you just got married. It's sweet." the girl commented before taking her turn on the obstacle.

Troy and Gabriella thought about what the girl had just said. They supposed they were back in the Newly wed stage, being all cuddly.

Around an hour later they came up to the obstacle that Gabriella was dreading the most. The zip wire. The wire was over 198 metres long, and travelled at the side of a large lake. Troy could tell that his wife was afraid by her eyes and posture.

"Do you want me to go first or after you?" He asked, rubbing her lower back.

"I don't know, if you go first you'll be there when I land but not when I set off. And if I go first you won't be there when I land but will be when I set off." Gabriella said, finding it hard to make a decision on which she would prefer.

"Which would you prefer?" Troy asked.

"Well I'd rather not do it at all." She said, noting how she couldn't see the end of the wire.

"Come on, you've come this far now, don't give up, Ella." Troy reasoned.

"But i'm scared of heights, Troy." She whimpered.

"I know you are, and I'm not gonna force you but I think you should face your fears. Once you've done it, you will feel so good and I will be even more proud of you." Troy said softly, looking into her eyes.

Gabriella remained silent for a moment as she debated in her mind. She then looked back at the wire before looking at Troy and making her decision. "You go first and be there when I get down." She said quickly.

Troy grinned at her and kissed her quickly. "I'll be at the bottom, okay? You have nothing to be scared of." Troy said as he clipped his harness on to the wire. "Will you make sure she's okay, for me?" Troy asked the instructor.

The instructor nodded and smiled. "Of course I will."

"Okay, here I go." Troy said before he jumped off the edge and began descending down the wire. He waved at Gabriella before giving her a thumbs up as she disappeared out of sight.

Gabriella waited for her cue at the top of the wire, her hands shaking with fear. She had just watched Troy set off and his smile had given her a tiny hint of reassurance about her safety. But she was still deadly scared of heights and felt dizzy every time she came face to face with them. The instructors walkie talkie sounded out, signalling that Troy had landed at the bottom which calmed Gabriella's nerves further, knowing that Troy was safe.

"Okay, your go. Your husband's landed safely and is waiting for you." The instructor informed her.

Gabriella nodded and clipped her harness onto the wire, gripping her hands around the piece of rope which hung in front of her face. She looked out at the vast countryside around her and thought that it looked beautiful but terrifying at the same time. But Gabriella was determined to show Troy how brave she could be so she leaned forward and jumped, causing her to zoom down the zip wire at lightening speed. The cold air around her swished past her and the adrenaline started to kick in, pumping throughout her veins. As she looked around her she noticed the crystal blue waters of the lake over to her left and to her right, Gabriella could see a forest of leave less trees. She smiled, starting to enjoy the experience like Troy told her she would.

And before she knew it, her smiling husband came into sight as she neared the landing pit. Gabriella let go of the rope, and threw her hand up in the air, cheering at herself and to Troy. When she reached the pit of wood bark, Gabriella didn't land gracefully, on her butt in fact. She ignored the slight pain this caused and giggled before a man with blue eyes came into sight. She smiled up at him as she held out his hand to help her up before he pulled her into a bone crushing hug, kissing the top of her head as he moved them out of the landing pit.

"I'm so proud of you, baby." He cooed, rocking her from side to side.

Gabriella smiled against his neck, wrapping her arms around him. "Thanks." she mumbled. "I really enjoyed it."

"See, I told you you would." He said, pulling away from her slightly to place a soft kiss on her lips.

"Thanks for bringing me here today, Troy. It's been so much fun." Gabriella said softly, her eyes sparkling.

"I've had a lot of fun too. We should do it again some time."

Gabriella nodded and leaned her head back against his chest, feeling safe in his arms. Safe, just like Troy had promised her she would be.

**---**

**3 days later**

It was now the 29th of December and the family were waiting at Manchester Airport at gate 2B. They were due to board the plane in around fifteen minutes. Everybody was saddened to be leaving England. Maria, Lucille and Jack had enjoyed spending time with their son, daughter and Granddaughter. Back home visits were only around once a week and only lasted a couple of hours each. Layla had enjoyed being in a new country,witnessing her first snow fall and seeing her parents get along again. And finally, Troy and Gabriella had enjoyed the trip the most. If it wasn't for this week long holiday they might not have talked and sorted things out. They might have been still at each others throats every day. They felt as though the trip had brought them even closer than before their problems which surprised the pair who had thought they were as close as close could be. But they were proven wrong, now they hardly ever separated from one another.

Gabriella was consuming the time waiting by helping Layla to read her newly purchased little girl magazine while Troy was talking to his parents and Maria. And just on time, the intercom sounded out.

"Flight TC162 to Albuquerque, New Mexico is now boarding. Flight TC162 to Albuquerque, New Mexico is now boarding, thank you."

The six of them stood up, retrieving their boarding cards and passports from their bags. Troy gave Layla hers, telling her to hold on to them tightly. They all handed the items to the staff who checked them before they were allowed to walk down the passage way towards the plane. Layla skipped along the path by her granddad's side, telling him about the snowman she had made on Christmas Eve. Maria and Lucille were gossiping over something while Troy and Gabriella walked hand in hand with each other before entering the plane that would take them home, back to where they belong.

**

* * *

****Please review :) **

**Thanks for all the previous reviews, favourite-ing, and adding me to your alerts. It means so much. I hope you enjoyed this chapter as much as I liked writing it. Next chapter- Back to Albuquerque. But don't worry, that doesn't mean the end of this story.**


	8. Authors Note

Hey everyone, sorry I haven't updated since the beginning of January. The reason is because the amount of school work I have right now is insane. I have English coursework due in my Thursday and we were only set it on Friday. I have about 7 pages to do in a sketchbook, finish two pieces of art classwork and two final pieces in a period of 3 weeks. There aren't enough hours in a day!

I had mock exams in the 2nd week of January and I just got my results back today, I did good in some but crap in others; lets just say I have never got below a B in my life and I got 2 C's in maths and English literature. I have always been one of the best in my year at maths and English and these results just depress me because I feel like I haven't tried hard enough. I feel like I have failed and let myself down. I had a really crap maths teacher this year but I should have done extra work at home to sustain my A*, that way I wouldn't have got a C. So from now on I am going to have to do loads of revision and extra work to make sure I get better than those grades in my real ones. So where am I going with all of this? This means that I wont be able to concentrate on fanfiction so much, only when I get free time which I doubt I will have.

Sorry :(


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